Hosiery inspection machines



Dec. 23, 1958 G. T. SMITH 2,865,542

HOSIERY INSPECTION MACHINES Filed July 3, 1956 INVENTOR Gus T. Sr'm'u v United States Patent 2,865,542 HOSIERY INSPECTION MACHINES Gus T. Smith, Paducah, Kyi, assignor to Claussner Hosiery C0., Paducah,Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Application July 3, 1956, S erial No. 595,728 1 Claim, (Cl. 223-77 This invention relates to an improvement in hosiery inspection forms.

In the manufacture of hosiery, it is common practice to inspect hosiery by placing it on an elongated, expandable form which generally conforms to the shape of the hosiery, and then expanding the form to stretch the hosiery, taut to facilitate inspection and to stretch it to the extent .that faulty workwillappear. In some instances tlje inspection device is constructed so that the form carrying the hosiery can be rotated to facilitate the inspection. When the form is expanded and the hosiery made taut, it very often causes runs to develop due to threads or filaments in the hosiery being improperly secured at their ends. Such runs generally develop in the toe or heel scams, or at the seam in the garter band to which the threads or filaments in the body of the hosiery are fixed. In many cases, upon expansion of the inspection form, a run will develop which will extend from the toe on up to the very top of the hosiery. In other cases, the run may extend only a few inches from the original position of the free end of the thread or filament. It is general practice in most hosiery mills to correct runs by means of a latch up machine which reknits the run thread back into its proper position in the hosiery. The length of the run, of course, determines the time required to repair the hosiery. Five or six, or even ten, short runs can be repaired in the time required to repair a single long run. Consequently, it would obviously be desirable to provide a hosiery inspection device which was so constructed that long runs were prevented. The fiaws which it is desired to correct, may be observed as readily upon the occurrence of a short run, and a large number of short runs can be corrected in the time required to correct a long run. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide such an improvement in hosiery inspection machines.

More specifically, a further object of the invention is to improve hosiery inspection machines by providing certain areas of the forms which carry the hosiery with a surface which will interrupt a run which has started upon the expansion of the form and thus prevent it from developing into a long run. As most runs which are developed in the course of inspection originate at the heel, the toe, or the top of the hosiery, according to the present invention, the run stopping areas of the form are provided immediately adjacent to areas at which the heel, the toe and the top of the hosiery are normally disposed.

I have found that a surface having a fine nap, such as that provided by a nylon rug in which the tufts are lightly twisted, or a fine bristle brush, or a soft leather with a high nap, is such that a run originating in a knitted hosiery which at one area is in contact with the nap material, is unable to proceed beyond the point where the run comes in contact with the nap material. It appears that the fine nap, such as provided by the materials mentioned above, protrudes into the spaces between the loops of the knitted material to the extent that it blocks the progress of a run which would otherwise continue up the hosiery. According to the present invention, 4

sucha nappy material is positioned within two or three inches of the portions of the hosiery at which runs gen been allowed to continue the full lengthv of the hosierfy," v

The manner in which the invention may be applied to conventional hosiery inspection machines is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings;

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of an expandable form hosiery inspection machine of the conventional kind, showing one form of'.the improvement according to the present invention incorporated therein; I Figure -2 is a longitudinal vertical "section illustrating one manner in which the improvement according to the present invention may be incorporated into such a hosiery inspection machine; and i Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

According to the present invention, the run-stopping material may be simply inlaid into the surface of the inspection form at the proper areas, or it may be carried upon a movable member which is associated with the inspection machine in such a manner that it is retracted slightly beneath the surface of the form when the machine is positioned to receive a stocking for inspection, and so that it will move outwardly into contact with the stocking as the form is expanded at the commencement of the inspection operation. The movable member carrying the run-stopping material is subsequently retracted at the completion of the inspection operation so that it will not interfere with removal of the inspected hosiery. The manner in which the run-stopping material may be mounted on a movable member so as to operate as described will be within the skill of the ordinary worker in this art, but one such arrangement in connection with a conventional hosiery machine is illustrated in the drawmgs.

Referring to Figure 1, thereis shown there a machine comprising an-expandable form 10 on which hosiery is positioned for inspection. This form comprises two complementary parts 12 and 14 which in the course of the operation of the machine are first expanded to place the hosiery under tension and thereafter rotated a full turn in order to bring all parts of the hosiery within the view of the machine operator. The details of construction of the inspection machine form no part of the present invention, but the general manner in which it operates is apparent from Figure 2 of the drawings. The sections 12, 14 of the form are supported by sliding connection 16 on the rotatable block 18 which in turn is driven by the motor 20 through the toothed gear 22 formed on the rearward end of the block. The sliding support 16 is such that the sections 12, 14 of the form may be moved away from one another upon being rotated.- This movement, which causes the expansion of the form, is produced by the cam 24 which is fixed to the shaft 26 mounted fixedly at 28. The cam 24 bears against blocks Patented Dec. 23, p

sli a y supported within recesses in the s'firifaces of the {or'rn' parts 12; 14. The outer surfaces of these blocks have fi ed to them a run-stopping material having a finenap such as that provided by nylon, Tug Or a fine bristle brush, or a softleathe'i' withfahig'h' fia'pJ I'his mat iail is 'ndicated 54; The inner ends ofnflie' movable blocks 5; bear against a cam 56 which is atta hed to the stationary" shaft 28 which is disposed centrally of the inspec oir f ciarrjn The surface of the cam 56iis s'u'ch that e bliibh 5 2 aremoved'outwa'rdly as tne-iermheginsnsi rotation arid-are returned to the retracted position in which they are shownin Figure 2 as the" inspection form 'complet'es one rotation The runstepping material 54 is thus slightly pressed into the hosiery which has been: drawn onto the form of inspection as" the form begins its rotation. Thejrunstopping eler'n'ents are disposed on the form within' a few inches of the" parts of the hosiery at which runs generany originate so that any such runs will be interrupted This comprises blocks 52 which are" after proceeding two or three inches, when the hosiery has been made taut by the eip'a'ndin'g form. The" run stopping material is withdrawn, as described above, at the completion of the rotation of the form so that it will not interfere with withdrawing the inspected hosiery. The blocks 60 carrying the run-stopping material 62, and operated by the cam 64, are similar in construction and function to those described immediately above.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is;

A hosiery inspection machine comprising a transversely expandable form circular in cross-section and having circumferentially extending recesses in its surface, a movable element carrying anap material positioned within each recess, said movable element normally being positioned in its recess with the nap material beneath the surface of the form, and means operable upon the transverse expansion of said; f orm tor move said element in the same transverse direction and position said nap material slightly above the surface of said fort-n.

Referenjces Cjteii in the file r this atent 

